If your children primarily reside (60% or more of the time) with one spouse, the other spouse is required to pay table child support in accordance with the Child Support Guidelines.  Essentially, this is a government regulation that specifies, in chart form, the “table” obligation based on two variables: number of children and income of spouse required to pay support (the “payor”).  The recipient spouse’s income is not a relevant determinant.

If your children reside more than 40% of the time with each spouse, child support may still be payable by the higher income earner, but there is no defined or automatic formula.  We can advise you of your potential rights or obligations.

In addition to monthly child support, the spouses may also be required to share in proportion to income certain specified expenses (often referred to as section 7 expenses) such as daycare, uninsured health/dental, extraordinary extracurricular expenses, post-secondary expenses, etc.

Though some people believe determining child support is simple and formulaic, there are many subtleties in determining “income” and other variables which require the insight of an experienced family law lawyer.  Call us.  We can help.